Case studies

The learning objectives are intended to stimulate the students’ comprehension of the various challenges faced by Indian startups in the digital ecosystem. With the changing working dynamics in organizations around the globe, managers are expected to explore unconventional business models to facilitate operational growth. The case study is a valuable resource for graduate students to enhance and evolve their critical thinking and solution-oriented skills as forthcoming managers of digital businesses. Students should be able to analyze the case, respond to the questions and evaluate the consequences of workplace flexibility, moonlighting and its applicability in an organizational context. With the Indian Government introducing schemes such as the Digital India initiative and Startup India, it is predicted that numerous startups will opt for digital business standards and a remote work approach. The case bridges classroom theories and a real-life digital company to help students connect with emerging market scenarios.

During the digital era, India witnessed a shift in companies’ work culture, which amplified when COVID-19 hit the country. Organizations started to work remotely and experienced the numerous benefits it brought. The comfort of working from home was greater for digital businesses whose significant operations could be performed online. However, is it really that productive for digital companies to telecommute? The case illustrates how a digital company, Career Pandit, formed in 2018, unfurls and expands its business and further highlights the challenges the pandemic raised concerning people management. In addition to the discussion, the purpose of the case is to determine the implication of workplace flexibility and moonlighting and how Indian startups cope with the uncertain future challenges it brings.

Under graduate and postgraduate students.

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CSS 6: Human Resource Management.

The case has the following learning objectives: to understand the dilemmas that an emerging market MNC faces during pre-and post-acquisition scenarios; understand and appreciate the basic tensions that arise when two different companies with different cultural setups are integrated; understand the importance of creating a culture integration road map to leverage the synergies of two successful companies; and understand the role of leadership in leading and managing change.

Asian Paints Ltd. has been a market leader in the Indian paint market for over five decades (since 1967). Over the years, starting in 1978, the company has steadily spread its footprint in the international arena as well. As of 2017, Asian Paints was a leader in 10 overseas markets, one of the top 3 paint companies in the Middle East, the largest paint manufacturing company in South Asia, and served 60 markets across the world. The international business contributed to around 12% of the company’s group turnover. In line with its long-term vision and to consolidate its presence in emerging markets, the company acquired Causeway Paints, a leading paint company in Sri Lanka, in April 2017. Asian Paints had a presence in Sri Lanka since 1999. Mr. Jatin Upadhyay, International Business Unit Head for Asian Paints, had played significant roles in the past in such acquisitions and was well aware of the impending challenges that came with such acquisitions. How would the integration of the two distinct entities be made possible without losing the overarching objective? How would the transition be managed? How would the cultural transition take place? What and how would the role be handled by the General Manager (GM) of Causeway Lanka? How would the new organisational structure support the transition? The case illustrates the complex management challenges that arise when a leading enterprise from a different country (Asian Paints) acquires a leading company in a different country, in this case, Causeway Paints, Sri Lanka.

The target audience for this case study is the students pursuing a post-graduate programme in management or an executive post-graduate programme in management. The case can also be used for management development programmes for experienced participants who are interested in understanding the possible scenarios that may arise after an acquisition when managing an international subsidiary in a different cultural setting.

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CSS 6: Human Resource Management.

The learning outcomes are as follows: to use advanced frameworks and tools to convey complex ideas related to strategy and sustainable business practices; apply relevant concepts and theories of corporate social responsibility and governance to a practical situation while making decisions; demonstrate understanding of the importance of stakeholders when developing socially responsible thinking; and analyze the different strengths and weaknesses of the organization when making a decision that would affect the company strategy.

Claire Humphry was the General Manager at the renowned The Nacre Hotel in Penang, Malaysia. Claire had a very busy job as she had many people who reported to her, and the hotel was always full of guests. One of the things Claire also managed was the restaurant OceanSound that was owned and operated by her hotel. OceanSound was a very thematic restaurant that specialized in making sculptures of food for special events. On the New Year’s Day in 2023, Claire came to work ready to tackle what was sure to be a long and busy day. However, Claire had not anticipated exactly how taxing the day would end up being. During Claire’s talks with her colleagues throughout the day, her conversation with her friend, the head chef of OceanSound, Poh, would nag at her head for the rest of the day based on the events that followed. The New Year’s special sculpture at OceanSound was to be a large rabbit made of cake to commemorate 2023 being the year of the rabbit according to Chinese zodiac. This is usually kept secret until the sculpture is revealed; but somehow this information had been leaked. This led to The Nacre Hotel and OceanSound being in the spotlight for bad reasons as this sparked a debate online regarding food wastage. This escalated quickly and even led to a famous food influencer commenting on this using specifically The Nacre’s name. Activists also quickly emerged in front of the hotel to protest the creation of sculptures and the food wastage in Malaysian hospitality industry, seeking to make an example out of The Nacre Hotel. The online criticism died down and was eventually replaced by praise for the sculpture. The activists were also eventually asked by the hotel security to leave, which led to the rest of the day to go as expected for a New Year’s Day at The Nacre. However, Claire’s nagging suspicion that they were not out of the woods led her to start looking into food wastage in the hospitality industry in Malaysia to educate herself and bring it up in a future meeting. Two days after this incident, on January 3, 2023, Claire found The Nacre Hotel posted on the newspaper headlines, dissecting the food wastage associated with the hotel now. After getting an urgent phone call from the Regional Manager, who was pressured by the board and shareholders, Claire decided the time to address this issue could not be delayed any longer. She wrote an email to her strategy team to come up with some ideas for possible solutions to the issue and to present them in a group meeting within a week’s time. At the conclusion of the meeting, Claire was contemplating about the decision that she had to make if she wanted The Nacre Hotel to continue operating successfully in Malaysia’s hospitality industry.

The main theoretical concepts illustrated in the case include corporate governance approaches, types of corporate social responsibility, stakeholders’ prioritization, organizational culture, organizational structure, industry analysis and strategic choices. Therefore, this case study can be used in a upper-level undergraduate business courses in the field of Strategic Management and Corporate Social Responsibility. The case study can be successfully used in a capstone course on Business Policy and Strategy, when tackling the concepts of corporate social responsibility, environmental sustainability strategy and corporate governance. Under this scenario, the usage of conceptual frameworks from Chapters 2 and 3 of the textbook titled “Concepts in Strategic Management and Business Policy: Toward Global Sustainability” by Wheelen and Hunger would be required. This case study can also be successfully applied to MBA level courses on Strategic Management in a Globalized World. In this case, the latest edition of the textbook titled “Exploring Strategy” by Whittington et al., could be used (particularly, the material from Chapters 2–9, 11, 14 and 15). Additionally, the case could also be used in courses related to Tourism and Hospitality, especially in schools which have specialized programs in this field.

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CCS 12: Tourism and Hospitality.

This case aims to enhance students’ scholarship and understanding of performance management systems with respect to the formulation of key performance indicators (KPIs). Specifically, working through this case and the assignment questions, students will be able to:▪ critically analyse process-based and outcome-based performance indicators;▪ recommend the right mix of process- and the outcome-based KPIs;▪ apply the specific, measurable, aligned, realistic and time-bound (SMART) framework to the KPIs;▪ create SMART KPIs; and▪ propose when to involve team members in decision-making.

The Director of the Centre for Learning and Innovative Pedagogies (CLIP), Dr Tanushree Sharma, was in for a surprise when the Dean and the Advisor to the school expressed their dissatisfaction with her approach to framing performance indicators for the management of the Centre.

They categorically advised her to change her process-based orientation to an outcome-based one and create tangible ground-level outcomes. Their feedback made her realize why, in spite of having rolled out several initiatives, the Centre was struggling to demonstrate its impact on student learning and faculty development. It dawned on her that the Centre’s inability to showcase a tangible impact on the school could mar the collective hard toil of the team.

Accepting the feedback and recognizing the merit of designing outcome-based SMART performance indicators, she started working towards them. Although she was able to conceptualize a broad framework, she was uncertain about whether to include only outcome-based KPIs. She was also unsure whether to unilaterally create and assign the key responsibility areas (KRAs) and KPIs or co-create them with her team members. A confluence of factors weighed heavily on her mind – the pressure of limited time, remote working because of the pandemic, moderately experienced team members, voluntary team membership, lack of positional power and her limited organizational influence. With less than a month to the proposal submission, she had no time to waste.

The case is suitable for courses on performance management systems, human resources and leadership; however, it is particularly relevant to framing KRAs and KPIs, developing outcome-based KPIs and applying the SMART framework to developing KPIs. It can be used in both postgraduate and undergraduate programmes at business schools.

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CSS 6: Human Resource Management.

This case will help students to analyse and develop insights into the concepts of servant leadership; to analyse and develop insights into women’s empowerment and a process to achieve such empowerment; and to explore the social business models for scaling up.

The Lakhpati Kisan programme under the aegis of Tata Trusts focussed on empowering women marginal farmers in the tribal belts in India to significantly increase their income from 2015. Ganesh Neelam, Executive Director, Collectives for Integrated Livelihood Initiatives (CInI), a nodal agency of Tata Trusts, advocated various livelihood options in agriculture, livestock, non-timber forest resources and water conversation. Initially, CInI faced the challenge of getting the farmers to sign up for the programme due to lack of trust. CInI facilitators educated the farmers about the purpose of the initiative and the benefits they would accrue and built trust. CInI created awareness through knowledge-sharing sessions on best practices in agriculture. They formed self-help groups of farmers for decision-making and for easy access to capital. CInI established farmer producer organisations (FPOs) to bring in a business perspective among farmers. The farmers as Board members and executives ran the FPOs like commercial organisations. CInI built capabilities to create a sustainable and autonomous ecosystem that looked impressive. But still the programme was falling short of the desired target. The farmers were so far reluctant to move forward independently. Ganesh felt that the social business model that CInI had evolved needed a re-look to achieve a significant and lasting impact on the majority of the marginal farmers in India.

The case can be used in the organisation behaviour, human resource management courses and courses on social enterprises as part of the MBA or post-graduate management programme or in executive education programmes.

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CSS 6: Human Resource Management.

At the end of the case, a successful learner will be able to:▪ develop sound criteria to guide investors entering into hotel management agreements (HMAs);▪ reconcile principal and agent disputes through the lens of an agency framework; and▪ evaluate the impact of the work environment on employee and organisational outcomes.

Muyiwa, Chairman of Fara Ltd., signed a HMA with Aytello Hotel Group to operate his hotel in Nigeria, the Mélange Abuja. Aytello was an international hotel management company based in the USA. It was a renowned operator with several brands in its portfolio. The Mélange brand was contemporary, upscale and targeted young business guests with an appetite for adventure. It was the first Mélange to have opened in West Africa. A management agreement was signed in August 2016, which meant that Aytello was now responsible for operating the hotel on behalf of its Owner, Muyiwa. On his part, Muyiwa provided the funds needed to run the hotel profitably. However, soon after the opening, the operator and owner showed signs of conflict. Muyiwa began to distrust the operator and intervened directly in operations. The frequent clashes between Muyiwa and the operator soon led to an impasse that made productive dialogue difficult. As relationships soured, Muyiwa needed to make a decision soon. This case study is designed to teach agency relationships in organisational behaviour.

This case study is designed for business leaders on executive programmes and postgraduate students.

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CSS 12: Tourism and Hospitality.

This teaching case covers aspects of leadership development, strategy, change management, organisational behaviour, and people management. The case explores the following themes:

• Workplace transformation and culture: the challenges and opportunities of remote/hybrid work in large government enterprises and maintaining the culture when moving remote

• Leadership and change: the different perspectives that a leader can take into consideration when leading the business during turbulent and uncertain times and managing the change process in large organisations

• Strategic decision-making: the application of analytical skills by senior management when making strategic decisions in a business

Workplace transformation and culture: the challenges and opportunities of remote/hybrid work in large government enterprises and maintaining the culture when moving remote

Leadership and change: the different perspectives that a leader can take into consideration when leading the business during turbulent and uncertain times and managing the change process in large organisations

Strategic decision-making: the application of analytical skills by senior management when making strategic decisions in a business

The primary audience for this teaching case is management education programmes including: Master of Business Administration (MBA), Postgraduate Diploma (PGDip), specialist Masters in Management, and certain Executive Education programmes.

This case deals with a public-sector entity that collects taxation revenue for the South African government. In 2020, the operations of this public entity are severely affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. The mandatory shift of the workforce from in-office to a remote work-from-home set-up, results in the entity switching to a hybrid work model in order to achieve its goals as an essential service. Protagonist Dr Zanele Twazi, executive head of the public entity's research department, is tasked by the commissioner to conduct a review on the hybrid work model. As the commissioner is also in the process of reviving the organisational culture to regain public trust following multiple corruption scandals, the pandemic adds to this pressure. Dr Twazi must share employee feedback on the remote work option. Meanwhile, the leadership team has to decide if the work model will serve this public entity in achieving its strategy, and from an organisational culture viewpoint, if it is the best fit for the future.

The key learnings from this case include the following:

• Organisational work model: A suitable work model is dependent on the organisational mandate as well as its culture.

• Culture and organisational goals: An organisational work model additionally impacts the future sustainability of the organisation and its ability to achieve its short- and long-term goals.

• Change management framework: For teams to effectively adapt to a hybrid work model, managers have to be empowered to lead and be able to facilitate the change.

Organisational work model: A suitable work model is dependent on the organisational mandate as well as its culture.

Culture and organisational goals: An organisational work model additionally impacts the future sustainability of the organisation and its ability to achieve its short- and long-term goals.

Change management framework: For teams to effectively adapt to a hybrid work model, managers have to be empowered to lead and be able to facilitate the change.

This comprehensive case has been written for an undergraduate-level course on general management and a post-graduate-level course on organizational behavior and strategic management. After working through the case and conducting an in-depth discussion of the assignment questions, students will be able to do the following: 1. perform a comprehensive assessment of the institute’s internal context to measure its resources and preparedness to deal with COVID-19; 2. apply organizational change frameworks (to understand the trigger of the change, type of change and change process); 3. qualitatively analyze the dynamic capabilities and resources available to reopen the institute; and 4. suggest ways to institutionalize agility in the organization to improve the preparations and future responses to student management on campus based on a thorough analysis.

Founded in 1996, the Indian Managerial Studies Institute, Indore, has emerged as a leader in management education by appropriately weaving the pertinent roles of industry, government and PSUs into a common thread. With the onset of COVID-19 in March 2020, IMSI Indore began to respond to educational and administrative challenges by building on resilient strategies. Two decision-making situations cropped up as the situation improved and again converged to the more lethal second wave in March 2021. Dr Hemant Vishwas, Dean of IMSI Indore, needed to determine whether the institute should continue with the reduced employee and hybrid classroom model or reopen with full-fledged operations for the following academic year.

This comprehensive case has been written considering the teaching pedagogy for an undergraduate-level course on organizational behavior (organizational development and change module) and a post-graduate-level course on organizational behavior and strategic management. This case is suitable for courses on organizational development, change and strategy implementation. Organizational behavior and organizational development and change can be used to understand the core concepts of the change content and process, i.e. the scope and scale of the change. The case also touches on inducing a dynamic change in response to the pandemic in an educational setting, teaching the concepts of dynamic capabilities. It is also expected to be useful for teaching courses related to operations strategies in educational services for executive degree programs and faculty development workshops.

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CSS 6: Human Resource Management.

After studying the case, the students will be able to: 1. understand the business and existing HR practices at Precision Engineering; 2. evaluate the factors affecting business that may require the company to formalise its HR practices; 3. create recruitment and selection-related solutions for HR 2.0 using appropriate models and theory to aid the company meet its business goals; 4. create training needs identification and evaluation practices for HR 2.0 using appropriate models and theory to aid the company meet its business goals; and 5. create performance planning and review-related solutions for HR 2.0 using appropriate models and theory to aid the company meet its business goals. The case helps students objectively assess HR practices related to three core verticals – recruitment and selection; training; and performance management systems. It also enables them to reassess these practices with the help of specific metrics and models.

Precision Engineering was a manufacturer of machined metal components in the Indian automotive components industry. It had been a family-run business since its inception in 1995. Precision was awarded the prestigious Automotive Component Manufacturers of India award in 2020 for excellence in HR. Ms Sakshi Kapoor, General Manager of Innovation, was ecstatic at the receipt of this award. She, however, was thoughtful about the informal human resource (HR) practices at the company. The top management had announced an aggressive growth plan and advised Ms Kapoor to leverage HR practices to facilitate these plans. Recruitment and selection, employee training and performance management systems needed to be formalised on a priority basis to strategically aid the future business agenda at Precision. Ms Kapoor faced the challenge of preparing the roadmap of HR 2.0 while preserving the employee-centric beliefs at Precision. The case initiates a discussion to achieve this goal by adopting suitable HR metrics and models.

It should be taught in the core course on Human Resource Management for first-year Masters in Business Administration (MBA) students. Alternatively, it could be used in elective courses such as Strategic Human Resource Management, Training and Development and Performance Management Systems for second-year MBA students.

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CSS 6: Human Resource Management.

The aim of the case is to understand the performance management system of academic staff members in higher education institution. Furthermore, students would be able to compare two performance appraisal policies and analyze which one could better serve the purpose considering the context of educational institution. The case would help students understand the performance dynamics of the academic staff and how the performance management system in place affect employees.

The case study presents a troubling situation faced by Asim Khan, a newly appointed director of the Midland University, regarding retention of the faculty. Upon joining Midland, Khan noticed a trend that faculty who was serving the university from many years are leaving the organization one after the other. He decided to revise the faculty policies that he believed was the root cause of faculty turnover in Midland. He formulated a committee to review the existing policies and revamp if required. The committee identified some flaws in the faculty appraisal policy in place at that time and formulated a new one with the consultation of top management. However, when the new appraisal policy was presented to the faculty, few faculty members raised their eyes over a few aspects of the proposed policy. As the new academic year was approaching, Khan had to make an important decision after critically analyzing the pros and cons of both policies that which of the two should be followed for the upcoming year’s appraisals.

The case can potentially be used in the post-graduate courses in MBA programs offering a major in human resource management.

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CSS 6: Human resource management.